The present invention relates to improvements in road vehicles and more particularly to a ladder assembly for specific use with the tailgate of trucks and the like.
Pick-up trucks were originally designed for use as utility vehicles, in which workmen used the bed of the vehicle for various industrial and agricultural functions. Customarily workmen did not require an intermediate step or ladder associated with the tailgate of the truck to permit ingress and egress into and from the bed of the truck, since the truck bed was not of a sufficient height to justify that additional apparatus.
However, with the advent of the use of caps, camper bodies and similar arrangements adapted specifically for the use with pick-up trucks, persons of small stature, for instance, women, children and elderly people, employing the pick-up trucks for vacation or recreational use, there is a requirement for easy access to the bed of the pick-up truck. Therefore, it has become desirable to provide an intermediate step or ladder to permit easy ingress and egress into and from the truck bed.
Several U.S. patents have been granted which are concerned with the same problem as mentioned above, namely, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,161,997; 4,191,388; 4,639,032; 4,757,876; 4,846,487; 4,848,821; 5,028,063; 5,205,603; and 5,312,150. All of the above mentioned U.S. patents, and the patents referred to therein as prior art, have a fixed location for the ladder assembly when connected to the tailgate of a truck. Where the ladder assembly is stored on the truck tailgate, the storage normally takes place parallel to the longitudinal axis of the truck bed and not parallel to the transverse axis of the truck bed as in the present invention.